Football shoe and cleat



Jufly 30, 1935, H. G. POWNIN G 2,009,947

FOOTBALL SHOE AND CLEAT Filed March 17, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1213 3% 19355., H'. POWNING V FOOTBALL SHOE AND CLEAT Filed March 17, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 VENTOR.

Patented July 30, 1935 FOOTBALL SHOE AND CLEAT Henry G. Powning, Boston, Mass, assignor to B. A. Corbin & Son 00., Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 17,

4 Claims.

This invention relates to football cleats and to the construction of shoes on which such cleats are used.

In recent years the demand for a removable football cleat has become so pronounced that this form of cleat has largely supplanted the fixed or non-removable type formerly used almost universally. Such a demand has been based largely on the fact that the calks of the removable cleats can readily be changed to suit playing conditions, the ordinary short calk being replaced by the long mud cleat, or vice versa, as the condition of the playing field requires. The present invention is more especially concerned with this type of cleat, and it aims to improve the construction of such cleats, and the shoes equipped with them, with a view to making the shoes more comfortable to wear, easier to kick with, and less liable to serious distortion under adverse playing conditions.

A serious objection to any cleat structure of this general type is the fact that when a cleat or calk breaks, the parts by which the calk was secured to the shoe are very likely to cause serious injury to another player who may be stepped on, or may otherwise come in contact accidentally with the cleat base. This has been a particularly troublesome problem in connection with removable cleats. To provide a thoroughly satisfactory solution for this problem forms an important object of this invention.

It is, of course, a common occurrence for cleats to come off, or break, during play. However, a

player cannot quit when this occurs, and as he continues to play he probably will ruin the base or securing means by which the cleat is fastened to the bottom of the shoe. It is important to be able to repair such damage quickly, and this involves not only the replacement of the cleat, but also the renewal of the damaged part of the base, A further object of this invention, therefore, is to devise a construction in which such renewals can be made quickly and conveniently. The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when 1934, Serial No. 716,128

the bottom of the shoe to cooperate with this base;

Fig. 3 is a vertical, sectional view through the bottom of a shoe showing the cleat structure;

4 is a plan view showing a slightly different construction of one of the members illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a cleat including the member shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing still another form of a cleat base member; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the invention showing one of the cleats in vertical section. v

Referring first to Figs. 2 and 3, the cleat structure there shown comprises a calk or cleat body 2, preferably made of some molded composition, such as those used heretofore for thispurpose. Formed in the bottom of this calk is a cavity 3, the walls of which are internally screw threaded. This calk is removably secured to the bottom of the shoe by means of a cleat base which comprises a stud or male member 4, and a socket or female member 5. The latter member is provided with a large flange to engage the inner surface of the outsole 6 of the shoe, and a sleeve to project through the hole in said outsole, this sleeve being internally screw threaded to receive the threaded stem a of the male member. It

will be observed that this member is provided with selves in the outsole, or to enter holes 'l'| in a metal plate 8 which overlies a portion of the out; sole, and thus to prevent any rotative movement of the socket member with reference to the shoe bottom. After the male member has beenturned up solidly, it may be held against backing up by driving a tack 9, Fig. 3, into the sole, the head of the tack being located in the slot 2). I

, With the cleat base firmly secured to the outsole in the manner just described, the cleat body or calk 2 may be threaded on to the head 4, or it may be backed up orunthreaded to remove it therefromwhenever desired. Any suitable num--' ber of these calks can be applied to a shoe. Usually five are fastened to the forepart and two or three to the heel.

As a rule the calks are made of a fiber and rubber composition having great strength, but still possessing a certain frictional property which enables them to bite into the threads of the head 4 and afford considerable resistance to backing up, even when the threads are properly out. It is for this reason that particular pains must be taken to lock the head 4 againstrotation relatively to the outsole. At the same time this characteristicof the material of which the calks are, or may be, made is an advantage in preventing the calks from backing up and becoming loosened accidentally. Such a tendency may be augmented or made even more pronounced by using some suitable form of friction washer between the tread face of the outsole and the base of the calk. One such form of friction washer is shown at l and consists simply of rubber or rubberized fabric having the tacky surface characteristics peculiar to certain grades of rubber and rubber compositions. This washer also serves 'to take up surface irregularities between the sole and cleat.

As above stated, it is a common occurrence for a calk 'to'break during play. Sometimes, also, calks come off during the game. As the player continues, he will batter up the exposed head 4 so that in orderto replace the calk it is also necessary to renew the head of the cleat base. Such renewals may conveniently be made by withdrawing the tack 9, unscrewing the member 4, and replacing it with a new one.

In order both to provide a more secure foundation for the cleats and to resist deformation and warping of the shoe sole, the spring steel plate 8, previously referred to, is included in the bottom structure of the shoe, either between the outsole and insole, or else between the outsole and an intermediatesole 12, when one is used. A similar plate I is secured in the same manner under the heel portion of the shoe. These plates tend to hold the parts of the shoe in which they are included in a level condition, and they also add materially to the security of the fastening of the cleat bases 'to the shoe. A common objection to prior football shoes has been that the metal fastenings for the cleats extend entirely through the shoe bottom and thus make this part of the shoe cold and uncomfortable, and transmitting shocks and blows on the cleats directly to the foot. The construction above described eifectually overcomes these objections and produces a much more comfortable shoe. This result is due both to the nature of the mounting for the cleats and also to the presence of the metal plate 8. Furthermore, since the bottom of the shoe is kept in a more nearly level condition, it is easier to kick with it, and the kicking ,can be done more accurately.

The -cleat base may take other forms. For example, instead of having the head 4 slotted as shown at b in Fig. 2, this head may be provided with two holes l5, Figs. 4 and 5, drilled through it at diametrically opposite points and adapted to receive a special wrench provided with pins to enter these holes. When such a head has been screwed up tightly on the shoe sole, a long tack, nail, or the like, may be driven through one of these holes into the sole to lock the head against rotation relatively to the shoe bottom. .A nail or tack used for this purpose is shown at 16 in Fig. 5 and it may readily be with--' drawn by means of a screw driver, tack puller, or the like, when it is desired to renew the head '4'.

The female or socket member may also be constructed as shown at 5 in Figs. 5 and 6, having a key or spline IT at one side of the sleeve d to fit in correspondingly shaped apertures punched through the outsole 6 and plate 8, for the purpose of preventing rotation of this member relatively to the shoe bottom.

Still another embodiment of the invention, which at present I prefer, is illustrated in Fig. 7. Here the female or socket member 5 is provided with a sleeve which is square in cross-sectional form, square holes, one of which is shown at l8, being punched through the outsole and the metal plate 8 to receive the sleeves of these members. Thus each socket member is secured against rotation relatively to the shoe sole. In this embodiment of the invention the male or stud member is made in two parts, one consisting of a screw threaded head 4 and the other of a screw 4 the head being provided with a socket to receive the head of the screw. This head also has a squarehole to receive and slide onthe sleeve of the socket member 5". Consequently, when the parts are mounted in a shoe bottom, as shown in Fig. 7, the head is held against rotation by its engagement with the female member, and both the head and the flange of the socket member are clamped by the screw 4 firmly against the opposite sides of the assembly including the sole 6 and plate 8. The calk 2 may be screwed on or off this head, whenever desired, without any danger of loosening the head and without depending upon a tack, screw, or other additional fastening memher to hold the head against backward rotation when the calk is unscrewed. At the same time the head can be readily removed,if it should become battered up, simply by backing out the screw 4 after which the worn head may be replaced with a new one and the calk also can be renewed.

This embodiment of the invention therefore provides an exceptionally satisfactory cleat structure, both from the standpoint of the manufacturer and the user.

It should be noted, however, that in all of these constructions the renewal of the screw threaded head whichis directly engaged by the calk can be effected without disturbing any of the parts of the shoe bottom and while working entirely from the tread side of the shoe sole. Furthermore, in this shoe, even if several cleats are broken off leaving the screw threaded heads exposed, they present broad fiat surfaces to contact with the ground or with other players, the diameters of these surfaces being approximately the same as those of the smaller ends of the calks, so that there is practically no danger of them inflicting more serious injury on another player than would the calks themselves.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. In a cleat for football shoes, the combination of a calk having a screw threaded socket in the bottom thereof, a base for said calk comprising a socket member having a flange to fitbetween portions of the shoe bottom and a sleeve to project through the shoe sole, said sleeve being internally threaded, an externally threaded head, larger in diameter than said sleeve, adapted to fit the socket in said calk,sa id socket member being constructed to have a non-rotary engagement with the bottom of the shoe, and said head being provided with means so that it may be held in non-rotary engagement with said sleeve, and a screw threaded into said sleeve and serving to force said head toward the flange of said member, with the head sliding on said sleeve, to' clamp the shoe sole between said flange and said head.

2. In a cleat for football shoes, the combination of male and female members constructed to be threaded together and to bear on opposite faces of a shoe sole, said female member including a sleeve adapted to project through the sole and internally threaded to receive the threaded stem of the male member and being provided also with a flange to engage the inner surface of the sole, the male member having an externally threaded head substantially larger in diameter than said sleeve and adapted to bear on the outer face of the sole to cooperate with the flange of the other member in clamping the sole between them, said female member having such engagement with the bottom of the shoe as to prevent its rotation relatively to the shoe, and a calk having an internally screw threaded socket in the bottom thereof to receive said screw threaded head.

3. In a cleat for football shoes, the combination of a calk having a screw threaded socket in the bottom thereof, a base for said calk comprising socket and stud members having screw threaded engagement with each other, one of said members having a screw threaded head to fit said socket in the calk, the other member having a flange to cooperate with said head in clamping the sole of a shoe between the head and flange, the flanged member having such engagement with the shoe bottom as to' prevent its rotation relatively to the shoe, and said screw threaded head being provided with means whereby it may beheld in non-rotary engagement with said flanged member.

4. In a cleat for football shoes, the combination of a calk having a screw threaded socket in the bottom thereof, a base for said calk comprising socket and stud members having screw threaded engagement with each other, one of said members having a screw threaded head to fit said socket in the calk, the other member having a flange to cooperate with said head in clamping the sole of a shoe between the head and flange, means cooperating with said sole to positively prevent rotation of said head normally relatively to the sole, and a friction washer pressed against the outer surface of the shoe sole by said calk and serving to strongly resist rotation of said calk out of its operative position.

HENRY G. POWNING. 

